The US House passed a bill targeting billions in improper federal payments.
This week the Republican-led U.S. House took a strong stand to protect hardworking American taxpayers from the endless cycle of government waste, fraud, and abuse. The House passed the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act, 218-200. Republicans stood united behind this commonsense reform. But nearly every Democrat voted against it, again demonstrating their priorities in terms of protecting the people’s money versus growing the bloated federal bureaucracy. The bill, introduced by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), goes straight after the ridiculous “pay and chase” policy that has allowed federal agencies to write checks first and ask questions later-if at all.
Under the current broken system, billions and billions of taxpayer dollars go out the door to fraudsters, ineligible recipients and outright criminals, and bureaucrats play an expensive game of catch-up that rarely recovers the full amount. Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act changes the game. It gives federal agencies the ability to stop, hold or split questionable payments before they are released when there is an increased risk of fraud or improper payment. And the bill also grants the U.S. Treasury Department new authority to send flagged payment requests back to agencies for further review using objective data from systems like the Do Not Pay database.